Rick Scott Unseats Incumbent Dem Sen. Bill Nelson

Jeff J Mitchell, Joe Raedle/Getty Images6 Nov 2018

Much like the gubernatorial race in Florida, the contest between Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), a clash of two of the Sunshine State’s political heavyweights, went down to the wire on Tuesday.

With 99 percent of the precincts reporting and more than 8 million ballots counted, Scott had a 55,000-plus vote lead over the incumbent Democrat Nelson in his apparent victory.

Also much like Ron DeSantis in his contest against Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, Nelson outperformed Scott in Florida’s metropolitan areas of Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. However, that wasn’t enough to carry Nelson.

Scott carried an overwhelming majority of Florida’s counties overall. He will join the state’s soon-to-be senior Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) in the U.S. Senate, where Republicans were able to maintain control in Tuesday’s elections.